The present invention relates to a safety device for gas-fired equipment such as kitchen ranges, baking ovens, heating stoves, gas-powered engines, and the like.
The great, and deserved, popularity of gas as a domestic, as well as industrial, fuel tends to make people forget its dangerous nature which lies less in its toxicity, but in its explosiveness. In fact, the destructive effect of exploding stoichiometric or near-stoichiometric gas/air mixtures rivals that of high explosives. Although such mixtures may be produced by slow leaks from cracked pipes and faulty joints, they are most frequently the result of burner flames being accidentally extinguished by gusts of wind or, more often, by boiling-over kettles and pots, permitting relatively large quantities of gas to escape within a relatively short period of time. Existing safety devices are based on mechanical action produced in or near the combustion zone by heat-sensitive elements, and used with the aid of mechanical linkage members, to control valves. These members are exposed to the corrosive fretting effects of heat and combustion gases on the one hand, and to the interference of sticky, resinous cooking or baking residues, on the other, and become progressively unreliable. Furthermore, none of these devices will give protection against rupture of the supply line at any point between meter (or bottle) and burner.